Bitcoin’s Competitors Are Missing The Point Of Cryptocurrency And Blockchain Technology
In a Medium post published earlier this month, Castle Island Ventures Partner Nic Carter explained the utility of Bitcoin (BTC) as a revolutionary alternative to the traditional, government-approved banking system. Additionally, Carter wrote about how the thousands of Bitcoin competitors that have popped up over the years have missed the point of this new technology.
On a recent episode of Laura Shin’s Unchained podcast, Carter discussed this secondary point on altcoins in greater depth. While Carter noted that the relative success of Ethereum (ETH) cannot be ignored, he also indicated that there are very few chains other than Bitcoin and Ethereum that have any real usage whatsoever.
The Problem with Altcoins
When Shin asked Carter if there were any coins besides BTC that he viewed as legitimate or promising, he responded with an explanation of the key issue that the altcoin market has faced ever since the first alternative cryptocurrencies were created back in 2011.
“The problem I identify in the article is that there has been insufficient attention given to the legitimacy-conferring factors for the long tail of altcoins,” said Carter. “And so, the emphasis has always been on technical innovation — some of which were really marginal technical innovations — and really insufficient attention to the things that I believe matter, which is like: How do you ensure that the developers can’t abuse their privilege within the system? Are there checks and balances? Is the monetary policy credible, for instance? And oftentimes, what we actually see in these systems is those credibility-endowing facts are traded off to achieve glamour metrics or technical thresholds.”
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Source: www.forbes.com
